What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Backend Platform Engineer, Distributed Systems position at Code Metal?
Help redefine how the DoD makes multi-billion-dollar force-design decisions. In this role, you'll fuse physics-driven simulation, interactive computing, and verified AI code-generation to create next-generation wargaming platforms. If building ultra-low-latency APIs, taming high-volume geospatial data, and leading with clean, production-ready Python gets you fired up, let’s talk.
What you’ll do- Own the service layer—design, build, and scale FastAPI micro-services and lightning-fast ZeroMQ messaging pipelines running in Kubernetes and bare-metal clusters.
- Wrangle data at speed & scale—shape and query multi-TB Postgres/PostGIS datasets, orchestrate Redis for sub-millisecond state, and keep everything rock-solid under bursty load.
- Glue the stack together—expose crisp, well-versioned REST & WebSocket endpoints for the frontend crew and simulation kernel.
- Ship continuously—automate CI/CD, observability, and security hardening to DoD standards; push to prod with confidence.
- Lead by doing—drive code reviews, mentor teammates, and set the standard for test coverage and documentation.
- Mission with impact: your APIs become the nervous system of digital battlefields influencing multi-billion-dollar defense acquisitions.
- Velocity: tight-knit teams, weekly releases, zero bureaucratic drag.
- Ownership: no passengers—every engineer ships code that matters.
- 4 years building production backends in modern Python, with deep FastAPI (or equivalent async framework) experience.
- Proven expertise in ZeroMQ, NATS, Kafka, or similar high-throughput messaging systems.
- Hands-on with Postgres/PostGIS and Redis in performance-critical workloads.
- Cloud-native chops—Docker, Kubernetes, and one major provider (AWS, GCP, Azure, or GovCloud).
- Active Secret clearance or eligibility to obtain one.
- C or Rust skills for bridging high-performance simulation modules.
- Hardened services for FedRAMP / STIG compliance.
- Observability mindset—Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry.
- TS/SCI clearance.
- Health care plan with 100% premium coverage, including medical, dental, and vision.
- 401k with 5% matching.
- Paid Time Off (Uncapped Vacation, plus Sick & Public Holidays).
- Flexible hybrid work arrangement.
- Relocation assistance for qualifying employees.